Sponsors (13)
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational agencies to establish or improve world language or dual language programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 25, 2025 by Jennifer Kiggans · Last progress February 25, 2025
The bill would expand and sustain K–12 world language and dual-language opportunities (with teacher supports and a small federal grant program), but its limited funding, competitive structure, and implementation requirements risk leaving many low-resource and rural districts behind while imposing local costs and administrative burdens.
K–12 (including pre-K and heritage learners) students gain expanded access to world language, dual-language, and bilingual instruction, improving language proficiency, cultural competency, and global competitiveness.
Federal grant programs and an authorized $15M/year program create new funding streams to start or expand language programs and cover administrative costs for participating districts.
Teachers and paraprofessionals get funded professional development, certification pathways, and opportunities to build teacher pipelines through LEA–higher-education consortia, supporting program sustainability and educator career advancement.
Many program definitions, goals, and requirements are set without sufficient funding, deadlines, or clear implementation guidance, risking limited immediate impact and creating potential unfunded mandates for districts and community organizations.
The competitive grant model and limited resources are likely to favor districts with grant-writing capacity and well-resourced systems, leaving low-income, rural, and small districts and their students underserved.
Implementing half-day bilingual requirements and new programs creates added staffing, scheduling, and administrative costs for districts and community programs, straining local budgets.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a Dept. of Education competitive grant program to fund K–12 world language and dual language programs and teacher/pipeline development, authorizing $15M/year starting FY2026.
Creates a federal competitive grant program at the Department of Education to help local school districts start, expand, or improve world language and dual‑language programs for pre‑K through grade 12. Grants run up to three years (renewable) and must meet selection criteria including student proficiency growth, teacher professional development, replicability, sustainability, and partnerships; $15 million per year is authorized beginning FY2026. The law defines key terms (dual language program, heritage learner, community‑based heritage language school, world language program), requires LEA reporting within 18 months, reserves funds for paraprofessional certification pathways and evaluation, and prioritizes activities such as summer professional development, immersion models, heritage partnerships, and collaboration with licensure/teacher pipeline programs.